Deals
Another trade deadline has come and gone. There were two deals of consequence. Regarding the Magic and Grizzlies deal, it sure seems like people are quick to say that Jerry West's selection of Drew Gooden was a failure. Perhaps. But players are nothing more than assets, and anytime you can move one for something you like better, you do it. The Wolves dealt a newly-drafted Donyell Marshall for Tom Gugliotta, a trade that worked to their benefit for many years. I think Gooden will still be a fine player, though he's no power forward. I guess I'm not sold on Mike Miller.
The real deal was the Bucks/Sonics blockbuster. I like this deal for both teams, but I can't believe the Bucks were able to get Desmond Mason in the deal. Mason and Payton will allow George Karl to play the kind of defensive pressure D he wants. The question is whether Payton wants to stay in Milwaukee after the season (or if owner Herb Kohl wants to sign him while still trying to sell the team). Talent for talent, a great swap for Milwaukee. They weren't going anywhere close to the Finals with their old team, so why not take a shot?
As for Seattle, the reports are that they are planning to have Brent Barry run the point for the rest of the year. Excuse me? The guy can't even play in back-to-backs because of knee tendonitis, and he's never been a point in his life. This will be Kevin Ollie's show to run, and then Seattle will go PG shopping in the off-season. It is not impossible that one of the PG's they will court will be...Gary Payton, though at a much-reduced price. I'm not saying it's likely. But Payton will be out there, and maybe seeing the grass on the other side will give both him and the Sonics a new perspective. Seattle was faced with losing Payton for nothing, so getting an All-Star in return is a nice bonus. But I think Allen's as good as he's going to get, and he's not a franchise player. He can't carry them the way Payton did. Now they are rebuilding around Allen, Rashard Lewis and Vlad Radmanovic. They need more help.
Frozen Out
The major talk in the Twin Cities is obviously about the Wolves' decision to stand pat. Here's my beef with the talk-radio set: We don't know what the Wolves really had available to them. Yeah, it sounds nice to say you can trade Terrell Brandon and his cap space, but TB's making noise every other month about wanting to play again. That would be the sound of cap space going down the drain. He's risky. And how do you convince a team like Seattle, or a coach like Pat Riley, to take back a cadaver in exchange for a real player? Hard to do. Maybe the Wolves were pushing as hard as they could push, and no one could pull the trigger with them. We don't know.
But here's what we do know. I know that I keep hearing people talk about things like "work ethic" and "being in the office" in relation to Kevin McHale and Flip Saunders the GM. These are people who would know, like Wolves broadcaster Chad Hartman. The not-so-hidden message is that maybe the Wolves' braintrust simply isn't putting in the time. It's a troubling notion, if true. We also hear talk from Wolves owner Glen Taylor about the financial side of things, that they are going to be very careful about taking on too much salary (and paying the luxury tax).
Dan Barreiro has a good point in today's StarTribune. That point is, Wolves fans don't want to hear about Taylor and the tax. Wolves fans don't want to hear about how the team doesn't have assets to deal. Why doesn't the team have assets to deal? Because of management's meltdown over the Joe Smith fiasco, which cost them three #1 picks. Glen Taylor and Kevin McHale got the Wolves in this mess. They OWE it to Wolves fans to get them out of this mess. We don't care about the hit to Taylor's pocketbook, and neither should Taylor. After all, they tried to sign Joe Smith to a $90 million dollar deal! That shows they were willing to dig deep.
And come to think of it, the fact that they actually signed that kind of contract for Joe Smith should be justification enough to send McHale up north to his favorite ice-fishing shack anyway.
What must Kevin Garnett be thinking about all of this? If only the front office were half as good at their jobs as he is at his...
12:01:50 PM 
|
